Agnolutto makes clean break and grabs seventh Tour stage

Frenchman Christophe Agnolutto takes the seventh stage of the Tour de France Keystone

France's Christophe Agnolutto held on to a break for 128 kilometres and stood up to storms and held off the efforts of the Deutsche Telekom riders to take Friday's Tour de France seventh stage.

The 205-kilometre stage took the riders from Tours to Limoges. After breaking free from the peloton, the Parisian rider rode a solitary route to the finish, coming in one minute and 11 seconds ahead of the main pack.

The Deutsche Telekom riders had been hoping to provide team member Eric Zabel the stage win as a 30th birthday present, and chased Agnolutto hard.

Italy’s Alberto Elli held on to the yellow jersey after the stage, and his compatriot Paolo Bettini kept the climber’s spots. But the green passed from Belgium’s Tom Steels to German Marcel Wust

Switzerland’s riders finished in the peloton. In the overall rankings, the top-placed Swiss is Markus Zberg, in 58th position, nine minutes and 41 seconds behind the leader. In the team standings, Zberg and his fellow Rabobank riders are top.

Roland Meier, in 62nd place nine minutes and 51 seconds behind the leader’s yellow jersey is the next-placed Swiss. He’s followed by Alex Zülle, who is having a disappointing Tour in 64th place, down nine minutes and 59 seconds. Laurent Dufaux is 106th at 12 minutes and five seconds, Armin Meier is 121st at 12 minutes and 47seconds, and Sven Montgomery is 135th at 13 minutes and 17 seconds.

swissinfo with agencies